'Say Her Name': The documentary about the death of Sandra Bland to screen at CIFF

Getty Images/ Courtesy of HBO

Black Lives Matter activists rally in Brooklyn honoring the life of Sandra Bland one year after her death. Her story is at the center of the documentary "Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland."

Black Lives Matter activists rally in Brooklyn honoring the life of Sandra Bland one year after her death. Her story is at the center of the documentary "Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland." (Getty Images/ Courtesy of HBO)

In the summer of 2015, Sandra Bland made the long-distance drive from her Naperville-area home to Texas, where she was relocating for work. A July traffic stop outside of Houston would ultimately lead to her death in a jail cell three days later. The circumstances surrounding her death still remain unclear.

There will be an additional event Monday at the DuSable Museum of African American History featuring clips from the film and a panel discussion with members of Bland’s family and the filmmakers — the latter of whom will also be at the fest screenings.

The Hollywood Reporter reviewed the doc last spring at the Tribeca Film Festival:

“What the film does best is bear witness to what happened on the day of the arrest and place it in the context of Bland's political life. Early on, we're introduced to the ‘Sandra Speaks’ series of online video journals, in which she not only laments the policing controversies of the day but urges black friends not to view whites as the enemy.

AP

Sandra Bland in an undated family photo.

Sandra Bland in an undated family photo. (AP)

“So Bland had done plenty of thinking about capricious traffic stops when, on July 10, Texas state trooper Brian Encinia pulled her over for failure to signal a lane change. We witness their encounter through now-famous dashcam footage from Encinia's cruiser, and watch as the officer escalates what should have been a routine interaction (assuming it should have happened at all) … ‘Say Her Name’ is also effective in chronicling how Bland's sisters and mother responded to the news of her death — questioning discrepancies in Waller County's account; arranging for an independent autopsy; and participating in the national eruption of protest.”

The screening Monday will include a post-show panel discussion with Bland’s family and filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner.

Admission is free. For tickets to Monday’s event go here. For tickets to the CIFF screenings go here.